Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is scheduled to suspend commercial air traffic for one hour later this month for an anti-takeover drill. It is reported that the maneuvers would involve members of the Aviation Special Forces Command and Army Airborne Special Forces posing as an invading enemy, with ground troops deployed to repel the simulated takeover attempt.
The drill is to be part of the live-fire component of this year’s Han Kuang military exercises from July 24 to 28. The airport drill has been tentatively set for July 26 and the planned one-hour suspension of air traffic indicates that it would likely last less than that to limit the inconvenience for travelers. All major airlines are to be informed of the event, while an international air traffic broadcast would also be issued.
The drill is significant because it would be the first time this type of exercise has been staged at the airport since it opened in 1979. As a responsive measure to counter the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) growing threat, it puts the principle of “taking military drills to the future battlefield” into practice.
Northern Taiwan is in the military’s “third combat zone” and is a critical point of defense. Of the major airports in northern Taiwan, Taoyuan airport is the nation’s most important, while Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is a mid-size commercial facility and air base. Only Hsinchu Air Base is a full-time military installation.
From a military defense point of view, Taoyuan airport boasts the advantages of accommodating space for military use, wide runways and close proximity to Taipei. It is not the only air-based gateway into Taiwan, but it is a site of critical military value.
After all, the PLA’s ambition of annexing Taiwan has so far resulted in the deployment of ballistic missiles, helicopters, large military transport aircraft and landing craft. If the PLA were to invade using an amphibious attack or elite operations, Taoyuan airport would be prone to attack in either scenario and become a rendezvous site for troops.
The PLA could launch intensive attacks on military bases in northern Taiwan with surface-to-surface missiles before attacking Taoyuan by deploying amphibious military vessels or civilian boats. China would then use helicopters to transport military personnel and equipment to attack Taoyuan airport. If such a scenario were to happen, it would put the airport’s flexibility and spontaneous response capabilities to the test, and pressure the air defense, anti-tank and anti-infiltration capabilities of Taiwan’s army.
In the strategy to defend Taiwan and Penghu, as long as the army can hold Taoyuan airport, then the PLA’s plan of invading northern Taiwan would be greatly hindered.
Although advanced rehearsal and live-fire drills would inconvenience commercial airline companies and travelers, national security should always come first. To give the national army full support, the public should support the drills and do their part for national defense.
Ray Song is a doctoral student in Tamkang University’s Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.
Translated by Rita Wang
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